Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1881 — Blasting Without Drilling. [ARTICLE]

Blasting Without Drilling.

An Austrian engineer named Lauei has discovered a new method of disintegrating rock. The chief feature of his system is to employ a hollow cylinder like a gas pipe, and to place the dynamite cartridge, not as hitherto in a hole bored in a rock to be blasted, but in the cylinder in question. The cartridge only touches the surface of the rock which it is desired to shatter. The explosion of the dynamite is effected by means of electricity, and the effect is said to be greater than with the usual cartridge in a hole bored in the rock. The rock is shattered into fragments so small that a feir stream is able to wash them away without help, whereas in the case of gunpowder the rock is only split up into small blocks more or less large and troublesome to remove. The Lauer system is calculated to effect a saving of fully 40 per cppt, as compared with the old system.